M Christine Delea's Blog, page 14

Flophouse?: Prompt

Does anyone use the term "flophouse" anymore? If you aren't familiar, it is a synonym for a sleazy motel. These places are everywhere and they definitely have personality, even if they are no longer in business.

For this prompt, make one of these places a part of your piece.

It does not have to be the focus, but a flophouse should play a role.

Have fun! Be safe!

Marriage (motel) by Laura McCullough

Marriage (motel)

by Laura McCullough

(published in Posit, 2018)

Inland, just west of Atlantic City,

old motels stand hunched

as if ashamed, people

inside propping them up. No one

told me about the architecture

of sorrow, how expensive

it is to build, how long it takes

to tear down. East as far as you

can go here in Jersey is the ocean

in which swimming

and drowning

sometimes look the same.

I love a conceit (the unfortunate name for an extended metaphor), and this one is marvelous.

The po...

The Death of Rachel Carson--April 14, 1964 by Donelle Dreese

The Death of Rachel Carson--April 14, 1964

by Donelle Dreese

(published in Canary, Spring, 2017)

The battle of living things against cancer began so long ago that its origin is lost in time.--Rachel Carson

It had spread to her liver.

She never read the last letter

from Dorothy, the one that said--

I have come to a great sense of peace about you.

She said for all at last return to the sea.

Then death came whale-bursting

into her life, metastasizing

stirring its cellular gravel.

De...

How to Open Doors: Prompt

I have had 16 cats throughout my life. Their back stories have been as different as their personalities. They were/are, of course, all beautiful and intelligent, but only a few have figured out how to open doors. Three, to be exact. Our cats are all indoor cats and the ones who are able to open doors only do so on inside doors (although Banshee could open the front door, he only ever showed off when one of his humans was there to be impressed).

For this prompt, I would like you to think about a...

Ellis Island by Joseph Bruchac

Ellis Island

by Joseph Bruchac

(published in his 1978 book, Entering Onondaga, Cold Mountain Press)

Beyond the red brick of Ellis Island

where the two Slovak children

who became my grandparents

waited the long days of quarantine,

after leaving the sickness,

the old Empires of Europe,

a Circle Line ship slips easily

on its way to the island

of the tall woman, green

as dreams of forests and meadows

waiting for those who’d worked

a thousand years

yet never owned their own.

Like millions of oth...

Meteor, April 2020 by Amy Miller

Meteor, April 2020

by Amy Miller

(published in Sweet Lit, 2020) 

In the year of our plague, we saw a light. Like a plane on

fire, west in the sky, just after sunset when Venus and the

moon were trying so hard to touch. There, flashing on the

lids of the trash cans—sudden, moving, in flight—

something meeting its end, crashing to earth. I looked up

and said What the hell. Not Glory, not Thank you. 

Sometimes they say

a mixed blessing, which means

you’re screwed. Or Careful

what you wish. I ...

See You in September: Prompt

"See You in September" by The Happenings is just one of the many great songs written about September. See also:

September by The Shins

September in the Rain by Dinah Washington

September Song by Walter Huston

September by Earth, Wind, and Fire

Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

September Fields by Frazey Ford

Blame It on September by Allstar Weekend

September When I First Met You by Barry White

Pale September by Fiona Apple

September When It Comes by Johnny and Roseanne Cash

September ...

Season’s End by Audrey Colasanti

Season’s End

by Audrey Colasanti

(published in Humana Obscura, Fall/Winter 2021)

All around, the grasses sway copper and flax,

warm and honeyed; a thousand phantom

cicadas zither their wings in vibrating

song, The tips of the nodding sedge have turned

pink, the timothy and heather to pewter

and tin. The air, filled with the scent of dust

rising, sticky in the heat. Grasshoppers dart

across bristly plumes, clicking their heels—

the rhythmic hum and buzz of summer’s end—

bees and bees sucking ...

Portrait of a Figure Near Water by Jane Kenyon

Portrait of a Figure Near Water

by Jane Kenyon

(published in her Collected Poems, Graywolf Press, 2005)

Rebuked, she turned and ran

uphill to the barn. Anger, the inner   

arsonist, held a match to her brain.   

She observed her life: against her will   

it survived the unwavering flame.

The barn was empty of animals.   

Only a swallow tilted

near the beams, and bats

hung from the rafters

the roof sagged between.

Her breath became steady

where, years past, the farmer cooled   

the big tin ...

A Family Affair: Prompt

Be inspired by Ruth Stone’s poem, posted on my blog today. Her portrait of Aunt Maud is detailed, fresh, and thorough.

One of the major parts of the poem is the speaker’s memory of an incident with her aunt. Here’s where this prompt starts!

Think about an incident that you were involved in with another family member. It does not have to be something momentous (like a wedding or a car accident). Even trivial things change us, provide insight into the world, and/or force us to understand someth...